More coyotes

Ever since my own close encounter I’ve been accumulating random coyote stories. Many, like this and this, and this make ominous reading. Latest is the sad story of a 77-year-old woman attacked and killed on her early morning walk. Contra the odds in elder assault, the predator (or predators) who took her down were not bipedal but quadruped. Investigators are unsure whether the animal involved was a dog, a wolf or a coyote, but they’re confident it was canine. The environmentalists determinedly re-introducing wolves, not just in the Appalachians but all across the continent, are doubtless hoping DNA tests will eliminate the Red Wolf as a suspect. Odds are on canis familiaris. Uncontrolled and aggressive dogs are a familiar hazard to hikers and joggers; feral packs are not unknown in rural areas nationwide; I’ve encountered them myself on the fringes of Dine’ and in northern Mexico. But a coyote kill of a human would be a significant development in our relationship with the species.